Information solutions provider Thomson Scientific, part of Thomson Corporation, US, has announced that Australia's Group of Eight (Go8) have purchased its National Citation Report. The Group of Eight (Go8) represents Australia's leading research universities.

The Thomson Scientific National Citation Report is an electronic database of a nation's journal articles in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. The Australia dataset comprises bibliographic information for papers published by Australian researchers, including annual total citation counts for each paper, along with value-added metrics for benchmarking, ranking and evaluating research. The report provides detailed bibliographic and citation data on each paper. The data can be searched, grouped, summarised, and ranked using data elements, such as author names, institution, discipline, year, citation count, and collaborating institutions or nations. This provides additional information via the ISI Web of Knowledge(SM) solution which all institutions in Australia can access.

Formally incorporated in September 1999, the Go8 has been functioning as an informal network of vice-chancellors since 1994. Members of the group consist of the vice-chancellors (presidents) of: The University of Adelaide, The Australian National University, The University of Melbourne, Monash University, The University of New South Wales, The University of Queensland, The University of Sydney and The University of Western Australia.

Non-profit scientific publisher Institute of Physics Publishing (IOP), UK, has announced a change from the existing page numbering to an article numbering system, starting January 1, 2007. Article numbering offers important advantages and flexibility as it speeds up the publication process. Also, papers are immediately citable as soon as they are available online.

Initially, the transition will only be implemented on the journals Nanotechnology and Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter. The remaining journals in the IOP portfolio will make the transition in 2008. The two new titles in the collection - Environmental Research Letters and Computational Science & Discovery- will adopt the new system from the beginning.

Articles will continue to be published on the web in advance of the print edition. The use of article numbering will allow for papers in different issues or sections to be published as soon as they are ready, without having to wait for a whole issue or section to be allocated page numbers. However, there will be a slight change in the bibliographic citation. Articles will now be referenced using the six-digit article number in place of a page number.

The initiative was launched at the recently concluded first AGRIS workshop on 'Open access in agricultural sciences and technology: Indian initiatives'. The workshop was attended by library and documentation specialists from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) institutes and state agricultural research universities. Representatives from specialised institutions such as the National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE), the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) and the National Informatics Center (NIC) also participated.

The new open access agriculture information is projected to help agricultural scientists to obtain information via the Internet that are more searchable. The initiative seeks to bridge the gap between agricultural research documentation and open access documentation systems in other areas of science communication in India. Launching the first phase, the participants suggested the establishment of two pilot open access information repositories in the agricultural domain within the first year. The repositories will be located in Delhi and Hyderabad. While the repository in Delhi will be supported by ICAR, the Hyderabad repository will be supported by ICRISAT and MANAGE.

Publisher JISC infoNet, UK, has announced the launch of a new publication on e-learning which highlights a collaborative model. The publication will explore the findings of the Collaborative Approaches to the Management of E-Learning (CAMEL) project. It will look at how institutions that are making good use of e-learning and collaborating in regional lifelong learning partnerships might be able to learn from each other. CAMEL is a one-year pilot project led by JISC infoNet in partnership with the Association for Learning Technology and the Higher Education Academy.

Apart from the publication, a CD-ROM toolkit will also be made available later in November for those wanting to start a similar network. Copies of the publication (and pre-orders for the forthcoming CD-ROM) can be requested free of charge from JISC infoNet publications.

JISC infoNet will also be promoting the resources at upcoming conferences. The next opportunity will be at the AoC Conference in Birmingham (21-23 November), where delegates can find out more about the CAMEL project.

Book production company Stratford Publishing Services, US, has announced that it has merged with Textech International, India, in a deal whose financial terms were not disclosed. TexTech provides solutions that enable publishers to create, manage, re-purpose and distribute content. Stratford, which will be retaining its name following the merger, has about 35 employees, most of whom will be retained post-merger. Founded in 1997, the company provides complete and diverse publishing services.

The merger is reportedly the result of the tough financial situation faced in the production and printing field over the recent past. The main issues are the increases in paper costs and costly lawsuits against the printing sector over charges that it prints new textbook editions with content retained from previous editions.

Textech, together with Stratford, is expected to frame a new business model to meet the challenges of the industry. The goal of the merger is to become a $10 million company by 2010.

The relationship between the companies began in June 2005, after the two began subcontracting work to each other.

Online Computer Library Center, Inc. (OCLC), US, and the Getty Research Institute have announced that certain Getty references will now be available via the OCLC Terminologies Services. The resources included thus include Getty Vocabularies-the Art & Architecture Thesaurus, Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names and Union List of Artist Names. The addition of the Getty Vocabularies will add three new thesauri to the OCLC Terminologies Service suite that includes Medical Subject Headings 2006; Thesaurus for graphic materials: TGM I, Subject terms; Thesaurus for graphic materials: TGM II, Genre and physical characteristic terms; Guidelines On Subject Access To Individual Works Of Fiction, Drama, Etc., 2nd ed., form and genre; Newspaper Genre List, and Dublin Core Metadata Initiative Type Vocabulary.

The web-based OCLC Terminologies Service was recently launched to provide libraries, museums and archives with access to a variety of thesauri through a single interface. It may be used as a standalone tool or with different metadata editors, such as OCLC Connexion, CONTENTdm, or local systems. The Getty vocabulary databases are produced and maintained by the Getty Vocabulary Program. They can be used in three ways: at the data entry stage, by cataloguers or indexers who are describing works of art, architecture, etc.; as knowledge bases, providing information for researchers; and as search assistants to enhance end-user access to online resources.

The OCLC Terminologies Service is projected to provide various benefits to users. These include aggregating thesauri and other controlled vocabularies or lists that are in differing formats into one format; reducing the need to learn different searching techniques; searching across multiple thesauri; enabling the user to add more metadata through easy copy and paste; and better access to materials for users searching catalogues or web sites.

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